TV18 inks deal with Australia Network

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NEW DELHI -- New Delhi-based broadcaster Television Eighteen India announced Thursday an exclusive distribution deal with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to bring its infotainment channel Australia Network to India.

ABC will also share content with TV18 and assist in launching its channels in Australia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

TV18 runs business channel TV18-CNBC in English and Hindi in a joint venture with U.S. business news network CNBC. Earlier this year TV18 ventured into the general news broadcasting genre via a joint venture with CNN to launch CNN-IBN (India Broadcasting Network, which is a part of TV18 affiliate company Global Broadcast News).

TV18 vp distribution Piyush Goel said the three-year agreement with ABC "showcases our distribution abilities in the Indian media space. There is a demand for niche content in India and with new streams like Direct-To-Home, Conditional Access System and Internet Protocol TV coming up, an increasing number of foreign broadcasters may want to enter the Indian market."

ABC chief executive Ian Carroll added, "We will be sharing content across our news platforms as well as assisting TV18 Group in marketing and distribution of its channels in Australia."

Australia Network will be a free-to-air channel which plans to tap Indian advertisers.